Pubdate: Sat, 27 Feb 2016
Source: Daily Review (Towanda, PA)
Contact:  2016 The Daily Review
Website: http://www.thedailyreview.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1015
Author: Matt Hicks
Page: A4

INJECTION SITES A SAFE SPACE

This week, Ithaca Mayor Svante Myrick unveiled a plan to tackle the 
city's heroin epidemic.

It's a plan modeled after strategies employed in certain parts of the 
world, but yet to be implemented in the United States: Give heroin 
users a safe place to shoot up that's monitored by medical 
professionals. According to what the mayor has said in various media 
reports, these centers have seen their fair share of overdoses, but 
have yet to result in a death.

Would this be an ideal solution for Bradford County, which two weeks 
ago was experiencing two deaths to what was suspected to be 
fentanyl-laced heroin, with a third death following on Monday?

On one hand, you could argue that it does give drug users more time to fight.

Someone who would have otherwise died due to an overdose at a 
friend's house - where Narcan isn't readily available and there might 
be a hesitancy to call the police - would have medical professionals 
ready to respond in the case of deadly overindulgence.

Instead of their body being buried in a cemetery somewhere with 
family and friends mourning, the addict could have more time to make 
what would probably be the most important decision of their life - to 
get sober.

However, like many things in life, the issue isn't all black and white.

While I definitely am all for giving people all the chances in the 
world to battle their personal demons, I have to agree with the 
assertions made during Thursday's Bradford County commissioners 
meeting that a facility like the one proposed in Ithaca would 
ultimately be enabling, despite the city's good intentions.

While it's a bit of an apples-to-oranges comparison, when I think of 
addiction issues I often relate them to my dependency on soda. Or, as 
my former college peers out in western New York so wrongly called it, pop.

I've tried to kick it so many times. I know the overabundance of 
sugar is bad for my health, but those bubbles and that sweetness, 
along with the subtle high from the caffeine, keep bringing me back 
and looking for those four for $12 deals on 12 packs at the local 
grocery store. And, of course, when you've muscled your way through a 
week without the stuff, that first sip back is just amazing.

I can only imagine what that experience would be like multiplied by 
100 with heroin or other addictive drugs. For some that I know, they 
didn't have to imagine.

As many have said, it's hard not to find someone whose life hasn't 
been impacted by drugs. I had a cousin down in New York's Hudson 
Valley who went through his own battle. Luckily, through the 
unrelenting support of the family he had all but given up on and a 
baby daughter who needed him, he was able to push through and, after 
taking some time to become reacquainted with that girl in her toddler 
years, become the father she deserved.

I've also seen the happy ending of a former self-described "bigtime 
druggie" who I've come to know in recent years, who has been able to 
turn his life around through a lot of hard work - three jobs at one 
time - to become successful professionally and be able to provide for 
his newly expanded family.

There's also the example of one of my journalistic idols, the late 
David Carr - a man most noted for his work at the New York Times who, 
in his unique and raspy voice, had never been shy about discussing 
his past as a junkie.

Then there's the not-so-happy ending that hit close to home for a 
friend nearly two years ago.

Would a supervised injection facility have made a difference in any 
of these outcomes? Maybe.

In my eyes, however, these facilities remove a lot of the incentive 
there would normally be to get clean. The Grim Reaper isn't hanging 
so closely overhead and, while to my understanding there is a push 
for sobriety at these facilities, it seems like it's counterintuitive 
when you're providing opportunities for addicts to return to that 
euphoric state.

Ask me to give up soda when I'm enjoying the heck out of a 24 oz 
bottle of Dr. Pepper and I'll let you guess what my answer will be. 
Better yet, go to a local buffet and start preaching about weight loss.

As officials in Bradford County have said, the key is community 
support. It's easy to relapse and do what feels good at the surface. 
It's hard to break that dependency, and that's where having a variety 
of community resources come in to play. Hopefully, efforts currently 
ongoing at the county and community levels will help greatly expand 
these resources and save lives. As the saying goes: "Many hands make 
light work."

I know that Ithaca's plan isn't all about the supervised injection 
site. Like Bradford County, the city is also looking to expand 
treatment and support options, and reach demographics that might have 
been ignored in the past. With that, I wish the city the best of luck.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom